A full house. Premier League football. A sense of occasion. Match of the Day. A point.

Two points shy of the Champions League spots. Who cared that we were only 90 minutes into the season and that six teams were yet to kick off their campaigns.

Hull were top, Palace were bottom.

Claudio Ranieri was smiling despite defeat and blissfully unaware of what was around the corner and something weird happened at Turf Moor - Burnley lost at home. To Swansea. Fortunes there would soon change. Out went Francesco Guidolin, Bob Bradley too.

Others followed, the victims of results deemed not good enough and owners getting nervy.

Seven months on and nerves are very much the Teesside theme as Boro go in search of a much-needed result in the reverse fixture of the opening weekend of the season.

Anticipation has been replaced by growing apprehension, the buzz of adventure by growing pressure.

So what's changed since Boro's first game against Stoke?

A safe pair of hands

It was a shaky opening, to say the least.

On the back of an uncertain pre-season in which Valdes didn't play as much football as he or Aitor Karanka would have liked, Valdes looked rusty. "Nervy" was the word used in the BBC report.

And post-match Aitor Karanka faced questions about whether his high-profile keeper was at fault for Xherdan Shaqiri's equalising free-kick.

Stoke equalise from a free kick against Boro

The injury spell which followed did nothing to dispel fears that Valdes would struggle to get back to his best after a prolonged period of inactivity at Manchester United.

No such fear now. The keeper has been one of Boro's most consistent performers of late and has played a major role in the defensive solidity which is keeping the side afloat as things stand.

Read More

An improvement at one end but not the case at the other

Boro managed 12 shots on goal on that opening afternoon; the last time they managed to either match or better that tally was on December 5 against Hull City.

Of the 12 against Stoke, only two were on target, but in the first half there was an attacking verve that has been absent in recent weeks for Boro. They caused Stoke problems in that first half with Ramirez pulling the strings, Negredo making his presence felt and Downing and Adomah offering balance and poise on the flanks. One has gone, one is out of favour, one spent January sulking and looks to still be in a bad mood rather than in the mood to cause opposition defenders problems.

It was 4-2-3-1 for Boro on that opening afternoon. Obviously. Why would it have been anything else? And that 90 minutes in isolation offered little evidence that there would have to be a major tactical shift in the months to come.

Steve Agnew and Aitor Karanka during the opening game of the season against Stoke

Read More

Yet while Boro looked far more threatening in the first half of the Stoke game than they have of late, the defence was worryingly charitable in those opening weeks of the season.

Before Aitor Karanka opted for for the formation alteration at Arsenal, his side had only kept one clean sheet - at West Brom. After the switch, they shut the opposition out in three of their next six games.

Now that may be more to do with defenders getting to grips with the top class top flight attackers than the set-up, but Boro's defence recovered from a shaky start to the season to get back to doing what they do best.

But it's finding that balance which has proved difficult and finding a way to get Boro's attacking players operating and threatening like they did in the opening stages of the opening weekend.

The emergence and the disappearance

Who knows how Adam Forshaw's season would have turned out had Marten de Roon not limped off in the early stages of that Stoke game?

Yes, the Scouser has been below par in recent weeks and looks in need of a break but he still remains one of the success stories of the season.

So too is Adama Traore. On the day Boro played Stoke, the winger came off the bench for the final 16 minutes of Aston Villa's win over Rotherham. He signing raised eyebrows but seven months on his inclusion in the side raises the chances of a Boro victory.

Aitor Karanka and Mark Hughes

Calum Chambers is another who's emerged as a key player. Antonio Barragan, if you recall, slotted in at centre-half for the Stoke game and did a fine job but Boro look at their most solid when Chambers partners Gibson. The Arsenal man, who is still suffering with a foot injury, will be a miss in weeks to come.

An emerging trio and a disappearing trio. The right flank of Emilio Nsue and Albert Adomah headed for the Midlands while Stewart Downing, impressive in the opening weeks of the season, has bizarrely become a bit-part player in the eyes of Aitor Karanka.

Gaston's gone missing

He bossed the first half against Stoke. It was the Gaston we'd seen in the Championship. The Gaston we wanted to see to quell any concerns that he couldn't make the step-up to the Premier League.

"Ramirez went some way towards proving he can repeat his excellent form from last season with a lively and inventive display," reported the BBC as they handed the Uruguayan the Man of the Match award. Karanka praised him too.

It's a different story all together now. Unsettled in January and largely ineffective since his return to the squad. Boro could really do with Gaston back to the form he displayed at the start of the season.

Possible? Or is his mind made up?

Gaston Ramirez in action against Stoke on the first day of the Premier League season

The building pressure

With every game, it'll build. The pressure and the need for a result.

The build-up to the August meeting between these sides included a lot of unknowns.

How will Boro fare as a side? How will individuals fare? How good will Stoke be? How will Boro cope?

That last question remains. Not necessarily how Boro will cope with the quality but how they'll cope with the pressure of needing results in the run-in.